The Register-Guard union organizers and community members rallied Wednesday to shine the spotlight on their three years’ work without a labor contract and on the dispute’s non-existent coverage in The Register-Guard itself.
Newsroom, advertising, circulation and other employees circled under blue skies in front of the Register-Guard building, marking the third anniversary of grueling contract negotiations.
“There was a time I would have fought tooth and nail to keep a job here,” features reporter Kimber Williams yelled to a crowd of about 200 people. Speakers took turns hoisting each other up on the gas tank of a semitrailer truck striped with a gold Teamsters logo as the crowd chanted, “How dare they,” while waving banners.
Williams’ last day was Friday, and she said Register-Guard management made it easy to walk away.
“This is not the same place I came to work for,” she told the demonstrators.
The newspaper has been charged with 16 unfair labor practice charges in its negotiations with the Eugene Newspaper Guild and the Teamsters Local 206, the paper’s newest union. A year has passed since a district court judge ordered The Register-Guard to bargain with unions.
“It took a judge to make them just sit down with us at the bargaining table,” said Adele Berlinski, president of the Newspaper Guild and a copy editor at the paper. “The company is just anti-union.”
But Register-Guard human resources manager Cynthia Walden said management signed contracts on other issues with two smaller unions.
“I have all the confidence that we will reach an agreement,” she said. “But this will have to take place at the bargaining table.” Walden declined to answer further questions, delivering a statement instead.
“The Register-Guard is a great place to work, and it provides 430 of the best jobs in the area,” she said.
Since the hiring of Michael Zinser, an anti-labor lawyer from Nashville, The Register-Guard has been in and out of court and unable to reach an agreement with the union. On Tuesday, the newspaper went to court again for charges of changing advertising commission plans without communicating with the guild.
“That’s eroding our most basic right,” said Scott Maben, vice president of the guild and environmental reporter. The company wants employees to waive their right, while under contract, to meet with management about changes like restructuring a department, Maben said.
Maben added that he has also seen an increase in hiring of part-time employees, which would ultimately benefit publisher Tony Baker and the newspaper because part-timers receive less pay and benefits and aren’t eligible to be in a guild.
A guild bargainer proposed a settlement April 24. Berlinski said the union has already compromised by accepting drug and alcohol testing, a clause that prevents people from working at home and changes to the grievance procedure.
“The union has given management a lot of leeway,” Berlinski said, including an agreement to give up their right to strike.
“However, we are refusing to back down on a proposal to keep the union from using the office e-mail system,” Berlinski added. A judge decided earlier in the year that limiting the union’s use of office e-mail was illegal practice, Berlinski said, and many workers believe they should stick by this ruling.
Other community members toted signs saying, “It’s about free speech.”
Maben said he’s discouraged that he hasn’t seen one published letter to the editor about this labor issue.
“There is a virtual blackout on our editorial page,” he said. “We are nearly silent.”